Community Digest

Top new questions this week:

Did MS-DOS have any support for multithreading?

Common wisdom seems to be that MS-DOS was an exclusively single-threaded OS. Of course, implementing a scheduler would be possible, but the OS itself did not provide any facilities for multithreading, ...

ms-dos  
user avatar asked by neuviemeporte Score of 24
user avatar answered by Justme Score of 38

What is a DVD add on card?

I have a MS-6340 micro ATX motherboard in my retro PC. It has multiple audio connectors and one is called JAUX1. It can be used to input analogue stereo sound. But the description in the motherboard ...

motherboard  
user avatar asked by zomega Score of 18
user avatar answered by Nate Eldredge Score of 41

What's this mysterious dynamic RAM board in my Heathkit H8?

I recently acquired a Heathkit H8 computer. It only has two boards plugged into the bus: the processor board that every H8 has, and another board, which is apparently a dynamic RAM board. I can't find ...

heathkit h8  
user avatar asked by Willis Blackburn Score of 14
user avatar answered by Raffzahn Score of 6

Looking for any information related to the CDC 1604 Co-Op Monitor

The CDC 1604 Wikipedia page mentions a "Co-Op Monitor (developed by the users' organization)" used as the operating system. Has a contemporary description of its capabilities, e.g. a user ...

operating-system cdc  
user avatar asked by Leo B. Score of 4

Greatest hits from previous weeks:

Why did the NES not allow rotated sprites?

I'm taking a look at the chapter on sprites from a NES programming guide at famicom.party. There is a little table which describes what the different sprite attribute flags do: Bit # Purpose 7 Flips ...

nes design-choices sprite  
user avatar asked by Joe Score of 34
user avatar answered by Героям слава Score of 85

Why is EEPROM called ROM if it can be written to?

Is there a historical reason? Since it is rewritable it isn't read only by definition, so why call it so?

memory rom terminology  
user avatar asked by Michael Stachowsky Score of 40
user avatar answered by dirkt Score of 98

How can tilting a N64 cartridge cause such subtle glitches?

When the N64 cartridge is tilted in Super Mario 64, it reliably produces glitches such as this. Mario's limbs disappear, he rotates 90° and sinks into the floor, and the music gets messed up (usually ...

nintendo game-cartridge nintendo-64 glitches  
user avatar asked by Jack M Score of 113
user avatar answered by Adam Davis Score of 77

Where did the popularity of the `i` variable come from?

I have heard that the reason the i variable is used so much is because there was an old computer where each variable could only be a single letter and that reserved the variables a through h as ...

history programming  
user avatar asked by CJ Dennis Score of 68
user avatar answered by George Phillips Score of 90

Is it true that control+alt+delete only became a thing because IBM would not build Bill Gates a computer with a task manager button?

Is it true that ctrl+alt+del only became a thing because IBM would not build Bill Gates a computer with a button specifically for the task manager? Making it so that Microsoft had to develop a ...

history ibm-pc  
user avatar asked by Neil Meyer Score of 30
user avatar answered by JeremyP Score of 63

What are the software logos in MORICONS.DLL?

Every copy of Windows comes with a file named MORICONS.DLL which was first distributed with Windows 3.0. As far as I know, this file has not been changed since Windows 3.0. Some of the icons include: ...

history windows-3.x identify-this-software  
user avatar asked by Avery Score of 65
user avatar answered by Stephen Kitt Score of 41

Why does the Minus World exist?

In Super Mario Bros. for the NES and Famicom there exists a secret world, accessible by clipping through a wall to the first warp zone and entering the left-most pipe. This pipe will take you to ...

software nes glitches  
user avatar asked by wizzwizz4 Score of 83
user avatar answered by Justine Krejcha Score of 73
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